Technically, I think there were a few sessions that I completely neglected to write a summary for. Oops. Anyway, this was the first session of 2024, after more than a month and a half of scheduling conflicts.
Coming to from a strange spell where it felt like they stood still for fully six and a half weeks, our heroes continued their exploration of the lab operated by Giovan the Butcher, searching for Raoul in hopes of breaking his curse. The party had just finished killing a group of ghouls, and was now looking at three mysterious doors leading to further parts of the lab. Elvira boldly attempted to open a door, only to be shocked and blown back from it. Inej stepped in, deftly picking the door's lock in a way that generated a "low grade O". Inside was a small armory with some magical weapons, spell scrolls, and a strange amulet that Salt picked up.
Trying another door, the party found a large operating theater covered in blood, and noticed Raoul's old gear sitting in a corner. They grabbed the gear and shoved it in Elvira's bag of holding, then looked towards a large door to the North of the chamber. The large metal door slid open at the press of a button, and the party entered an octagonal chamber. Suddenly, the door slammed shut, and two other large doors to the East and West began grinding upwards. A mist began falling from the ceiling against the Northern wall, and a pale, unnervingly perfect and symmetrical face appeared.
The face, as it turned out, belonged to Giovan, who threatened the party that they would probably all die here, and that if they somehow escaped, they "didn't want this heat" and should leave Ciloria. The party didn't listen, but were unable to shoot back any witticisms or threats of their own, because Giovan was speaking to them via a one-way method of communication, much to their disappointment.
From the two opening doors came a duo of familiar faces. From the West, Raoul came, howling with anguish and rage. From the East, the Phantom Knight that the party had purposefully ignored earlier galloped into the room. The party lined up to fight these formidable opponents.
Raoul struck first, and in a single turn left Laura a paste on the ground. She was at two failed death saves, and when she came up next in the initiative, she failed her final death save, dying with no Silas around to revivify her. The rest of the party realized that they were probably in a bad place strategically, and began fighting to take down their two foes. Inej struck a critical blow to Raoul, and Elvira incapacitated him with a fit of laughter (spurred in part by her laughing at Laura being turned into a red paste).
The combat was a short and brutal melee, which ended with both Raoul and Inej unconscious, and the phantom knight killed. The party gathered around Laura as she gave her final words, asking Elvira if she lived up to her tramp stamp and "died nastier". Meanwhile, Laura's soul was engaged in a battle of wills with Ravenor. As skeletal manacles appeared from nowhere, trying to bind her and drag her to the lich's phylactory, Laura struggled and broke free. Unfortunately, the lich's relentless onslaught seemed to be getting the better of her when suddenly, an unknown comforting presence reinforced the barrier between the Material Plane and the Shadowfell. This allowed Laura to break free completely, and her spirit merged with The Flock, becoming its protector. Despite multiple attempts, Laura at no point realized that this helpful presence was the Legendary Hero Wren, living on as a spirit of the Material Plane.
Coincidentally, the ghoul with a human arm from the prison showed up and offered biting commentary on events. The group tried to figure out what his deal was, failing to discover anything actionable, but noticing that while the ghoul was definitely undead, his arm registered as living and human. In addition to pointing out some of the eccentricities of the group, this guy (whose name I absolutely remember) offered some new information about the state of things in the Shadow Kingdom. It turned out that he was formerly a guard at one of the "soul farms" hidden in the king's forest, before Giovan kidnapped him to use in an experiment. Our friend the ghoul recounted that at the soul farm, life is good for the peasants, who are fed well and encouraged to have many children. In fact, the amount of food diverted to these farms might even be exacerbating the famine in the rest of Ciloria.
The Ghoul also mentioned something called "Operation Alcestis", noting that it was likely something big, but not knowing any details. The only other information the party could glean was that Alcestis was a figure from legend who had died in place of her husband, and who had subsequently returned from the underworld. What this might mean about the nature of this operation was unclear.
Battered and beaten up, the party rested for an hour before Inej had a wide-ranging heart-to-heart with Raoul, telling him about how she had never felt this way about anyone else, how she now knew that friendship was real, that she probably didn't have long to live because someone wanted to kill her, and how she would feel really bad if her choice not to kill Elvira had led directly to Raoul dying. This beautiful heart-to-heart culminated in Raoul overcoming the curse and passing out. From there, the party rested overnight before debating what to do next. They decided to finish exploring this lab in hopes of finding Giovan and bringing him to justice.
They explored a few more rooms, with Elvira again suffering the effects of a trapped door. When she attempted to open it, the door swung on a horizontal pivot, smashing her in the head and nearly lifting her off the ground. It turned out there was nothing behind the door, it was just there to hurt people.
Finally, the party followed a long hallway to find an opulently appointed bedchamber. The chamber had no other doors, and Giovan was nowhere to be seen. The only figure in the chamber was some kind of female undead, chained to the wall near the bed and staring off into space vacantly.
And that's where we left our party. One more dead PC, because as it turns out, the only PCs I can actually kill are Calvin's.
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